I’m happy that I will be at GayRomLit in Kansas City as this is being posted and I hope to be seeing many of you there.

I had a happy surprise a few weeks ago: my novel Sex, Love, and Videogames was awarded 1st place for the New Adult category in the Swirl Awards, which are dedicated to “recognizing excellence in romance written without color barriers.”

Another happiness is the upcoming LGBTQ author signing event at the Eugene, Oregon Barnes & Noble on October 29th. They ordered books from all the authors participating. Are you kidding? What a trip to see my books displayed in a real live bookstore!

My happiest happiness today is that my new novella, All the Way to Shore, is now on Dreamspinner’s Coming Soon page! I’m stoked to be able to share with you the gorgeous cover. L.C. Chase is the cover artist and this one is my favorite one of hers yet!

I had a great time writing this novella. I intentionally put into it as many romance tropes as I could. We have “poor little rich boy,” “ugly duckling to swan,” “mistaken identity,” “rags to riches,” and more. And most of it takes place on a Caribbean cruise. I fell in love with my two main characters, Jonathan and Marco, and I think you will too.

The release date for All the Way to Shore is November 23, so I’ll be bringing you more about the book in my next Outside the Margins post on November 22.

Blurb:

Jonathan Vallen has never felt good enough. A gentle musician who loves to garden, he’s woefully unsuited to running Vallen Industries, the family business. When his father hires a hotshot executive, Marco Pellegrini, to save the company, Jonathan moves away and leaves his humiliation behind. A year later and forty pounds lighter, Jonathan runs into Marco on an LGBT cruise. Marco doesn’t recognize him, the sparks fly, and Jonathan pretends to be someone else for the week—Jonah Rutledge—someone good enough to be loved.

Marco Pellegrini has always been driven. He rose from poverty to the pinnacle of business success, and he’ll do anything to protect his reputation—including hiding his bisexuality. Having saved Vallen Industries, he’s weary of the rat race and ready for a more meaningful life. When Marco meets his soul mate for that new life—Jonah Rutledge—on an LGBT cruise, he prepares to stop hiding and start living.

Back on land, the romance crashes when Marco discovers his perfect man is not only a lie but the son of his boss, Frederick Vallen. Jonathan resolves to win Marco back, but Frederick takes vengeful action. Jonathan and Marco must battle their own fears as well as Frederick’s challenge to get to the future that awaits them on the horizon.

Excerpt

Marco and Sophia took their assigned seats at the captain’s table. This was supposedly an honor, no doubt due to Marco’s prominence as a businessman. Marco said hello to the assemblage of mostly middle-aged men, many of whom appeared to be there with their partners, and the one other woman at the table. No one here to interest him. They might be good business contacts, but he wasn’t here for that.

He scanned the room and finally found Jonah and Andrew on the other side at what appeared to be a much livelier table of guys, most clad in outrageous leather outfits. Someone who was wearing a harness and not much else leaned over to talk into Jonah’s ear. Marco noticed he’d clenched his fist around his napkin.

Relief came during the dessert course when Andrew suddenly appeared at their table, eyes sparkling under his fetching leather headband and looking well into his cups, as they said in the historical novels Marco liked to read.

Sophia grinned at him. “Andy! What’re you doing here?”

“I thought maybe I’d sit with you while Marco goes to keep Jonah company.” He put a hand on Marco’s shoulder and said in an audible whisper, “You need to rescue him. The rest of the guys are talking BDSM, and poor Jonah is in over his head!”

Andrew seemed to notice Captain Nystrom for the first time and clapped a hand over his mouth. But the captain merely gave him a serene nod, which Andrew returned with a mischievous smile.

Marco stood. “Excuse me, everyone, while I go rescue a friend. And please welcome another friend of ours, Andrew Arrington.” He turned to the captain. “Thank you for dinner, Captain Nystrom. It was nice chatting with you.”

As Marco left, he heard Andrew say, “I loooove your uniform!” Jonah peered at them from across the room, and when Marco headed toward him, he broke out into his shy smile. Harness Guy leaned in, trying to monopolize Jonah’s attention, but when Marco reached the table, Jonah only had eyes for him. And what pretty blue eyes they were.

“Hi, Marco.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.” Jonah’s pleased voice was music to Marco’s ears.

Marco’s gaze strayed to the wiry light brown curls peeking out from behind Jonah’s vest. He approved. Another male fashion that left him cold was a waxed chest. His eyes dropped to take in Jonah’s tight leather shorts molded to his thighs and crotch. Nice. He let his hand fall casually on Jonah’s shoulder as he pulled out Andrew’s empty chair, while shooting a “back off” glance at Harness Guy. Game over, buddy. The dude scowled and turned back to his dessert.

Once seated, he couldn’t help but smile at Jonah’s sweet face. It made Marco happy just to sit next to him. “How did you like your dinner?”

“Okay. I—” Jonah’s sentence got drowned out by raucous laughter and hoots as someone across the table told a story in which butt plugs played a featured role.

Marco leaned over and said in Jonah’s ear, “How about we get out of here and go look at the stars?” Hoo boy, Pellegrini, you’re turning into a cheeseball. But he didn’t care, especially not when Jonah turned that becoming shade of pink.

Links

About CJane Elliott

After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane enjoys writing sexy, passionate stories that also explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work and her characters are travelers, too, traveling down into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.

CJane is an ardent supporter of LGBTQ equality and is particularly fond of coming out stories.

In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her husband and son support her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intensely at her laptop.
E-mail: cjaneelliott@gmail.com
Website: http://www.cjaneelliott.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CJaneElliott
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cjane.elliott

Farewell Giveaway
I have a number of paperbacks, most of which are signed, to giveaway. Over the between now (11 Mar 2017) and 31 Mar 2017, every comment on the blog (this post and all other new posts), will be entered to win 1 of these paperbacks. There are also some misc swag items, so there will be a few packs of these to give away as well.

Thank you so much for your support over the last 4 years. Prism will be closing its doors on 1 April 2017. All content will remain available, but no new content will appear after 31 Mar 2017. As such all request forms have been turned off. Again Thank you,